Remember...

Russell Dawson Woods
1925-1944

"In war there is no substitute for victory."

General Douglas MacArthur

James Marshall & Maggie [Sweeney] Woods were married on October 18, 1914, in Kanawha
County, West Virginia. There was an oil and gas boom in the Clendenin area of Kanawha
County in the early 1900s, and James had moved there from Roanoke, Virginia, searching for
work. He was a welder and worked for several pipeline companies in the Clendenin area over the
years. James and Maggie Woods had thirteen children. Their sixth child, Russell Dawson
Woods, was born February 13, 1925, on Bufflick near Clendenin, West Virginia. As a young
boy he helped with the farm work and completed the 8th grade at a one room school in the
community. During the early 1940s Russell worked on various construction jobs with his brother
Carl.

Birth Certificate

On September 28, 1943, Russell enlisted in the US Army at
Huntington, West Virginia. He was 18 years old at the time. Russell went to Camp Wheeler,
Georgia, and was assigned to the 14th Infantry Training Battalion for basic training. When
training was completed and the regiment was ready to leave for Europe, he was transferred to
Company A, 175th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division. In late 1943 they arrived at
Tidworth Barracks in England, and spent the next several months taking part in intensive training
exercises to prepare for their part in the Normandy Invasion.

The Normandy Invasion, which was known as Operation Overlord, began on June 6, 1944, and
the 29th Infantry Division was assigned to the XIX Corps. The Omaha Beach area of the
Normandy coast consisted of ten sectors, and the 29th Infantry landed on the Dog Green sector.
The 175th Infantry Regiment was held offshore in reserve, and came ashore with the remaining
units of the division on June 7th. They endured intense and deadly fire from well-positioned
German troops on the bluffs and the first-wave assault companies experienced heavy losses.

St. Lo, July 1944

On June 9, 1944, the 175th Infantry Regiment secured the town of Isigny, then moved inward to
St. Lo, which was a major transportation and communications center in northern France. It took
five weeks for the 175th Infantry to move from Isigny to St. Lo, arriving there on July 11th.

The German army was entrenched in the hedgerows, which were walls of earth, some as high as
30 feet, that were topped by brush, trees, and briars that the local farmers had used for centuries
to divide their fields and to protect crops and livestock from strong ocean winds. There were
miles of hedgerows surrounding St. Lo and throughout the Normandy countryside, which
severely limited the Allies' ability to move quickly and effectively. During the battle, the
Germans were also assisted by heavy downpours of rain that turned the hedgerows into rivers of
mud and water. The German army heavily defended these hedgerows with snipers, tanks, and
machine guns, forcing the Americans to fight fiercely for each foot of ground that they gained.
After days of intense fighting and thousands of casualties, the battle for St. Lo was won by the
Allies on July 18, 1944.

After St. Lo, the 29th Infantry Regiment was attached to the United States 1st Army commanded
by General Omar Bradley. Operation Cobra, a plan to move the American troops off the
Cotentin Peninsula and push through the German defenses around St. Lo, was launched by
General Bradley on July 25, 1944. In order for this operation to be successful, the infantry had to
break through the German lines near Vire and the Lozon River. Aerial bombardment by the
Allies weakened the German troops, and by July 27th, their lines had been pushed back about 15
miles. On July 30th the infantry successfully reached the town of Avranches at the end of the
peninsula.

During the various skirmishes and battles that occurred following the Normandy Campaign and
during Operation Cobra, Russell Woods was reported as missing in
action on July 31, 1944. His status was later changed to killed in action, and Russell was
buried in the Brittany American Cemetery at St. James, France.

Grave of Russell Dawson Woods

Maggie Woods and children

Russell was preceded in death by an older sister Opal Virginia who passed away in 1919 at the
age of three. At the time of his death, Russell was survived by his father James Marshall Woods
who died in 1955; his mother Maggie who passed away in 1971; sisters Dixie Marie, Mary
Louise, Dolly Nadine, Patty Lou, and Barbara Sue, and brothers Orville Lee, Clarence Earl, Ray
Marshall, Carl Howard, Billy Richard, and Joseph Patrick.

Honor...

West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that
can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names,
letters and other relevant personal history.